About

Known credits:
34
Birthday:
1907-06-03
Place of birth:
London, England
Website:
N/A

Paul Rotha

Overview

Paul Rotha (3 June 1907 – 7 March 1984) was an English documentary film-maker, film historian and critic.

He was born Paul Thompson in London, and educated at Highgate School and at the Slade School of Fine Art.

Rotha was a close collaborator of John Grierson, and Wolfgang Suschitzky was one of his cinematographers. He directed and produced dozens of documentaries including Contact (1933), Air Outpost (1937) The Face of Britain (1935), World of Plenty (1943), Land of Promise (1947), A City Speaks (1947) and many others. The World Is Rich (1947) and Cradle of Genius (1961), both of which were nominated for an Academy Award, and feature films including the BAFTA-nominated No Resting Place. Rotha was Head of BBC TV's Documentaries Department between May 1953 and May 1955.

Rotha shared with Otto Neurath an interest in the techniques of visual communication, and the two men worked together on several films, where Neurath's ISOTYPE pictorial statistics were animated as an important component of the films' arguments. He was initially a major opponent of sound in movies, although he later developed the technique of multi-voice commentary, in which the argument of the film is conveyed via discussion between several distinct voices, a distinctive form of documentary exposition. Films using this technique include New Worlds for Old (1938), World of Plenty (1943), The World is Rich (1947) and Land of Promise (1946).

Rotha wrote, produced and directed the 1958 crime drama Cat & Mouse, based on a novel by John Creasey and starring Lee Patterson and Ann Sears.

Known for

Directing
1962 The Silent Raid Directing Director 59
Average
1961 Life of Adolf Hitler Directing Director 59
Average
1960 Cradle of Genius Directing Director N/A
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1958 Cat & Mouse Directing Director 59
Average
1953 World Without End Directing Director N/A
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1951 No Resting Place Directing Director N/A
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1947 The World Is Rich Directing Director N/A
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1947 The Balance Directing Director N/A
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1947 A City Speaks Directing Director N/A
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1946 Land of Promise Directing Director N/A
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1945 Total War in Britain Directing Director N/A
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1943 World of Plenty Directing Director N/A
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1940 Island People Directing Director 58
Average
1936 People of Britain Directing Director N/A
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1935 Shipyard Directing Director 58
Average
1935 The Face of Britain Directing Director 59
Average
1931 Australian Wines Directing Director N/A
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Writing
1958 Cat & Mouse Writing Writer 59
Average
1951 No Resting Place Writing Writer N/A
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1943 World of Plenty Writing Writer N/A
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1936 People of Britain Writing Writer N/A
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Production
1958 Cat & Mouse Production Producer 59
Average
1947 The Balance Production Producer N/A
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1946 Land of Promise Production Producer N/A
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1946 Britain Can Make It, No. 1 Production Producer 59
Average
1944 New Builders Production Producer N/A
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1943 World of Plenty Production Producer N/A
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1942 The Countrywomen Production Producer N/A
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1942 Night Shift Production Producer N/A
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1941 Five and Under Production Producer N/A
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1941 Bampton Shows the Way Production Associate Producer N/A
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1937 Air Outpost Production Producer N/A
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1937 Today We Live Production Producer N/A
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Editing
1961 Life of Adolf Hitler Editing Editor 59
Average